In most of the world today, almost all couples consist of one man and one woman. There are few gay couples, and in the Middle East only those with 100 oil wells can afford 4 wives.
But apparently it wasn't always that way. Researchers extracted the DNA from bones of 450 humans that lived 12000 years ago. They were found at sites all over the world. With DNA, they could find who was descended from a particular man, and who was descended from a particular woman.
They were shocked to find that for every descendant of a man, there were 17 descendants from women. It was more like a stallion who had 17 mares under his control in a herd of horses. The researchers guessed that a rich man could have many wives. But in my humble opinion, I disagree. From what I have read about the "Ice Man", found on that European glacier, there is a different reason he could have an average of 17 women for himself.

The researchers guessed that a rich man could have many wives. But in my humble opinion, I disagree.

Providing that girls and boys had been born equally, how can you explain 1 ordinary (not rich) man had 17 wives ?
Were others 16 men dead early before the pairing or marrige ?

My reference to Conan was more than symbolic. A stallion or a bull uses his strength and power to keep the females from straying away. He also keeps the lesser males from having sex with his females. These human bones were earlier than the Bronze Age. I believe that a strong leader of a group of people would not allow anyone else to have sex with the women. And when he is too old, and younger man will defeat him in battle and claim the women.
The "ice man" lived during the Bronze Age. He was murdered. There is evidence of a Bronze Age settlement at the foot of the mountain where he was found. They found skulls with up to 11 holes in them. A sharp object made the holes. Any one of them would be lethal.
This is just my opinion. And opinions are like ass holes. Everyone has one, but nobody gives a damn.

The ice man finding seems to prove Freud's theory on early human history, an application of his Oedipus complex.

cabbac wrote:

The researchers guessed that a rich man could have many wives. But in my humble opinion, I disagree.

Providing that girls and boys had been born equally, how can you explain 1 ordinary (not rich) man had 17 wives ?
Were others 16 men dead early before the pairing or marrige ?

A "rich man" (that by the way did mean nothing during the prehistoric time) didn't have 17 wives but 17 women can choose to be fertilized by the same man.

Why would they choose the same man?
Because a mother wants always to give the best to her child and in the difficult world were they did live better to have the good gene to survive.